Thursday September 04, 2008

Clarification

Clarification
I wanted to take a few seconds today to clarify what I have said on the radio and on the blog this week about the game and Clemson’s program. I do this because of some e-mails I have received. Obviously I am not a great communicator so let me try to clarify what I have said.

I think if you go back and read Tuesday and Wednesday’s blog you will see how disappointed I was in the game. I was embarrassed, shocked and extremely disappointed. Clemson was dominated and physically manhandled and that’s makes my stomach tie up in knots.

I did not like it then and I don’t like it now.

I will not forget that feeling for a while but hope not to feel it again anytime soon.

I hold Bowden accountable. It is his responsibility to have his team ready to play and obviously that did not happen.

However, I am not going to quit on this team or this program. At the risk of sounding corny, I was inspired by Fred Thompson Tuesday night at the Republican National Convention when he said, “A man is not defeated if he has not quit.”

Michael Jordan said, “Failure is not final. It is a temporary state.”

It may be hard-headed to think so but I refuse to think this program is over. I refuse to give in. Maybe I am wrong but I will have to be wrong with a half-full attitude. Regan said, “Without hope, you have nothing.”

I am not hopeless about this program.

I totally understand fans and their frustrations. Saturday’s performance was disgusting. I don’t blame any fan who is still furious over the game. But there are a few fans that I can’t put up with.

The first is the “I knew we were going to lose before the game started” fan. I heard that comment a couple of times since Saturday. Maybe I am optimistic to a fault but I have never gone into a Clemson game with that attitude. I can’t live my life looking at a half-empty glass. I have never played in a game or pulled for a team where I felt we could not win. I haven’t in my first 40 years and can’t start now.

The other fan I just can’t take anymore is the one seemed to take joy in Saturday’s performance because they wanted to say, “I told you so.” I have had this confrontation a couple of times this week. Let me get this right, it is so important for this fan to be right on a stance that they seem to take pleasure out of watching it? That is like Democrats hoping things go wrong for our country when a Republican is in office of vice versa. I would hope the welfare of the nation would be more important than politics. I would hope that prosperity for Clemson football would be more important than the negative fan’s self esteem.

A third fan that I take issue with is the one that now takes the stance that Bowden is totally wrong about everything. Everything is his fault. The players were not ready and it was his responsibility. But is the leaky faucet in Brackett Hall his fault too? How about the light that burned out in Martin? Believe it or not, Bowden is not wrong about everything. Everything is not totally his fault.

The subject of phone calls to other coaches is another subject that I think has gotten out of hand. The issue is winning and losing. It is not words. The same people that claim Bowden is arrogant and self righteous now have a problem with him calling other coaches for advice. You can be over cocky and humble at the same time.

Why is it an issue that he calls other coaches? The last time I checked Clemson and almost every college staff in the country send their offensive and defensive staffs out each year in the off-season to study other programs. They exchange ideas on Xs and Os. They share notes and thoughts on schemes. They examine practice schedules. They discuss run packages, blitz packages, checks at the line, drills, conditioning, etc. Why is this phone call any different?

Someone who has a positive outlook would look at Bowden’s phone calls as a coach that is trying everything he can to try to find answers. They would point out that this is man that is using every resource he can in order to give his team a better shot at winning. A negative onlooker would have issue and say he has no clue what to do.

It is all about perception. The only thing that matters in that perception battle is wins and losses though. If Pete Carroll would have called another coach it would have been brilliant. Because Mark Richt has won more football games at Georgia, then his religious views are not a big deal. Mark Mangino looks like he has lost some weight this season.

The bottom line to me is this—Clemson played awful Saturday and I am ticked off. I am disgusted. I don’t want to see that happen ever again. I hold Bowden responsible for it. But he has also taken responsibility and did so with direct comments on the subject after the game. But I refuse to give up on him or this program. I will be there Saturday. I will be there the next week and the one after that and the one after that. If the Lord lets me I will be there until they put me in the ground.

It is not so important for me to be right that I take joy in Clemson being defeated in any sporting event. You can beat me like a drum but I will never admit defeat before the game begins. Half-full is the only way to go through life.

I sat in the stands in November of 1980 when Clemson fans were ready to fire Danny Ford. They bitched and moaned about the offense. Many said he was unprepared and too young for the job. Thank goodness we did not let those people make decisions. Thank goodness Willie Underwood picked off two Gary Harper passes in the Clemson-USC game.

Many of the same people wanted Hatfield out so badly they hurt the program. Many trashed Tommy West, who was a good man and deserved to be supported better.

I stood 15 feet from Frank Howard when he appealed to the Clemson fans after Ken Hatfield’s press conference. The message was about Hatfield then but it could have later been used for West or for Bowden. Howard was right.

This blog entry is not intended to change anyone's mind. The negative people already have their mind made up and there is nothing this little blog can do to change their attitude. I just wanted to clarify my position. Until the day Bowden is not the coach at Clemson, I will support him. When they hire a new coach, I will support him. It’s all I can do because I want to be part of the solution and not the problem.

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